Ministry of Justice
The Ministry of Justice is a major government department, at the heart of the justice system. We work to protect and advance the principles of justice. Our vision is to deliver a world-class justice system that works for everyone in society.
Shadow Ministers / Spokeperson
Liberal Democrat
Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames (LD - Life peer)Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Justice)
Conservative
Edward Argar (Con - Melton and Syston)Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Junior Shadow Ministers / Deputy Spokesperson
Conservative
Gareth Bacon (Con - Orpington)Shadow Minister (Justice)
Ministers of State
Heidi Alexander (Lab - Swindon South)Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Lord Timpson (Lab - Life peer)
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State
Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab - Life peer)Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Alex Davies-Jones (Lab - Pontypridd)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
17:24
Written Evidence
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many adult men with no previous convictions were taken into immediate …
This Order modifies the application of sections 243A, 244 and 264 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”).
Ministry of Justice Commons Appearances
Oral Answers to Questions is a regularly scheduled appearance where the Secretary of State and junior minister will answer at the Dispatch Box questions from backbench MPs
Other Commons Chamber appearances can be:- Urgent Questions where the Speaker has selected a question to which a Minister must reply that day
- Adjornment Debates a 30 minute debate attended by a Minister that concludes the day in Parliament.
- Oral Statements informing the Commons of a significant development, where backbench MP's can then question the Minister making the statement.
Westminster Hall debates are performed in response to backbench MPs or e-petitions asking for a Minister to address a detailed issue
Written Statements are made when a current event is not sufficiently significant to require an Oral Statement, but the House is required to be informed.
Bills currently before Parliament
Ministry of Justice does not have Bills currently before Parliament
Acts of Parliament created in the 2024 Parliament
Ministry of Justice has not passed any Acts during the 2024 Parliament
Ministry of Justice - Secondary Legislation
Petitions
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
Departmental Select Committee
Justice Committee
Commons Select Committees are a formally established cross-party group of backbench MPs tasked with holding a Government department to account.
At any time there will be number of ongoing investigations into the work of the Department, or issues which fall within the oversight of the Department. Witnesses can be summoned from within the Government and outside to assist in these inquiries.
Select Committee findings are reported to the Commons, printed, and published on the Parliament website. The government then usually has 60 days to reply to the committee's recommendations.
0 Members of the Justice Committee
Justice Committee: 9 Current Inquiries
Justice Committee: Previous Inquiries
50 most recent Written Questions
(View all written questions)I can confirm that my department will consider and explore options for carrying out a review into these events. If the member wishes to write with more information I will provide him with a further update once this matter has been considered.
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Information on the numbers of adult men with no previous convictions who were taken into immediate custody from the Crown Courts and the Magistrates courts for sentences of below six months, and six months and over, are provided below. It is not possible to provide breakdowns by police force area because, due to low numbers, this would risk identification of the individuals concerned. Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts, taking into account the circumstances of each case.
Number of adult(1) male offenders with no previous convictions(2) sentenced to immediate custody by court type(3), sentence length(4)(5), and offence type; England and Wales(6), 2022-23(7):
Offence type8 | Crown Court | Magistrates Court | ||
Less than 6 months | 6 months or more | Less than 6 months | 6 months or more | |
Violence against the person | 31 | 950 | 69 | 40 |
Sexual offences | 16 | 1,347 | 23 | 32 |
Robbery | 1 | 118 | 0 | 5 |
Theft Offences | 11 | 173 | 97 | 18 |
Criminal damage and arson | 3 | 22 | 2 | 3 |
Drug offences | 71 | 1,980 | 18 | 87 |
Possession of weapons | 12 | 84 | 81 | 31 |
Public order offences | 11 | 97 | 28 | 8 |
Miscellaneous crimes against society | 57 | 429 | 50 | 27 |
Fraud offences | 5 | 109 | 7 | 3 |
Summary offences excluding motoring | 22 | 16 | 161 | 7 |
Summary motoring offences | 1 | 2 | 54 | 1 |
All offences | 241 | 5,327 | 590 | 262 |
Source: Ministry of Justice extract of the Police National Computer(9)
Notes:
1) Aged 18 or over at time of sentence.
2) Counting the number of male offenders who were convicted in court for the first time.
3) Includes crown and magistrates’ courts cases, where this information is recorded on the PNC.
4) 6 months has been assumed to be 180 days.
5) Excludes cases where the sentence length is not known.
6) England and Wales include all 43 police force areas plus the British Transport Police.
7) Includes financial year beginning April 2022 to March 2023.
8) For more detailed information on the offences included in each classification see the Offence Group Classifications file at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2023
9) The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are committed to delivering 20,000 prison places and accelerating the prison building programme to ensure we have the cells we need. In relation to repurposing empty buildings for use as prisons, we continue to investigate any options which present viable ways to increase the number of places in the estate, which are also compliant with security standards. This enables us to deliver a secure environment which provides a prison regime that is safe for both prisoners and staff, and ultimately keeps the public safe.
The government has committed to a 10-year capacity strategy which will include the steps we will take to ensure we have a sustainable pipeline of prison places in delivery over the next decade, and ultimately reduce reoffending and drive down the prison population.
Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
To establish the number and proportion of those with an electronic monitoring requirement that have broken their electronic monitoring condition, or other licence conditions, since 2015 would require a trawl through thousands of individual case records held on prison and probation systems. Such information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice is committed to working in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to ensure that continuity of care is in place for individuals leaving prison under the ECSL scheme and who have an ongoing drug and or alcohol treatment need.
Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are constantly monitoring the use of End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) and its impact.
ECSL was implemented in October 2023. Since its operation, the number of ECSL releases between 17 October 2023 and 30 June 2024 was 10,083.
The information requested could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost, because it would require the linkage and reconciliation of multiple administrative datasets.
Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Legal aid is a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland. My Rt. Hon. friend the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice has not yet had the opportunity to discuss legal aid with the devolved governments. Ministers look forward to working with their counterparts in the devolved governments on a range of issues, including legal aid.
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to supporting victims of domestic abuse.
In private family proceedings, legal aid is available for child arrangements, financial remedy proceedings and divorce for domestic abuse victims, including those subjected to economic abuse, and where the child is at risk of abuse, subject to providing the required evidence and meeting the means and merits tests.
Emergency representation is available for the purpose of obtaining urgent protection, such as non-molestation orders. We understand how important it is that anyone who needs a protective order can access legal advice and representation quickly, whatever their means. An eligibility waiver is available for victims of domestic abuse applying for an injunction or other protective order, which means they can receive legal aid even if they would not otherwise pass the means test, though they may then have to pay a financial contribution towards their legal costs.
In public family proceedings, means-free legal aid is available for parents and children in public family law children cases, including care proceedings and adoption proceedings under the Children Act 1989 and in related proceedings. Legal aid is also available to prospective kinship carers, subject to the means and merits test. Victims of domestic abuse do not need to provide evidence of abuse when accessing legal aid for public family matters.
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to halving incidences of violence against women and girls; a key element of this is ensuring that the courts are safe and supportive environments for victims, including within the family court.
We are committed to supporting children, parents and carers throughout the family justice system, and will set out a package of measures to see this done across the course of this Parliament.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants convicted for a wide range of offences against specific Home Office offence codes in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2023.
However, it is not possible to separately identify offences specifically involving a crossbow from a range of other violent offences. This information to enable such a split may be held on court records, but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate cost.
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The abuse that took place at Medomsley Detention Centre was appalling. The previous government, after years of campaigning by victims and survivors, commissioned the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) in October 2023 to undertake a thorough review of the abuse at Medomsley Detention Centre. The investigation commenced in November 2023 and is looking into what the authorities knew about the abuse over this period, if there were opportunities for them to take action or intervene, and what action they took.
At the outset, the PPO expected the review to take 18 months and therefore would conclude in May 2025 (although the Terms of Reference, which are available on the PPO website, do include the options for an extension if required, subject to approval).
It is important that the review has enough time to fully investigate what happened, to get the whole truth for victims and survivors. In the coming weeks, my officials and I will discuss the review’s progress with the PPO and his team to ensure that it can be completed as thoroughly but as quickly as possible.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of custodial sentences issued at criminal courts in England and Wales. This includes breakdowns by sex, sentence length, offence group and police force area, and therefore the information requested can be obtained from the following published data:
Magistrates’ courts: Magistrates' court data tool
Crown Court: Crown Court data tool
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice’s response to the Regulation 28 Prevention of Future Deaths report issued on 12 April by the Senior Coroner for Milton Keynes was sent by the Director General of Operations for HM Prison and Probation Service on 15 May 2024.
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons’ findings at HMP Wandsworth are deeply concerning. My right Hon. Friend, the Lord Chancellor, is determined to drive improvement at the prison and will publish her response to the Urgent Notification as soon as possible.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Information about appeals to the First-tier Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.
The table below sets out the number of appeals to the SEND Tribunal against decisions made by Birmingham City Council for the academic years 2019 to 2022 (the latest period for which data are available); and the numbers of those appeals that were (i) determined in favour of the appellants, (ii) determined in favour of the local authority, (iii) withdrawn, (iv) conceded before the hearing, and (v) still awaiting a hearing.
Appellants would include appeals made by parents and young persons.
Academic year | Total appeals registered | Total appeals determined in favour of the appellants | Total appeals determined in favour of the local authority | Total appeals withdrawn | Conceded before the hearing | Awaiting a hearing date |
2020 | 291 | 180 | 10 | 32 | 65 | 0 |
2021 | 547 | 367 | 31 | 48 | 89 | 1 |
2022 | 525 | 365 | 10 | 52 | 84 | 12 |
2023 | Data is not currently published | |||||
1- Appeal data is only available for 3 years due to record retention policy.
2- Appeals registered and appeals concluded will not tally due to spanning over academic years.
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences, including sexual offences and various ages of defendants/offenders in the Outcomes by Offence tool: December 2023.
This can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the Age Range filter and the Offence Group filter to select relevant offences in the Outcomes by Offence data tool.
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Although the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) has responded well to the significant increase in appeals it has experienced in recent years, we acknowledge that more needs to be done to reduce the time parents and young people have to wait to have their appeals determined. An additional 70 judges have been recruited for this jurisdiction and will begin sitting from September 2024, with further recruitment scheduled.
I look forward to working with my Right Honourable Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and her Ministerial team to consider ways to reduce the demands on the tribunal so that the outstanding caseload, and the time within which the tribunal can determine appeals, can be brought down.
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Appropriate protections for victims of harassment or stalking are vital. We are carefully considering the measures within the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 and will provide an update on plans for implementation in due course.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is carefully considering how and when to implement the public protection provisions in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. The number of ECSL releases that took place between 17 October 2023 and 30 June 2024 was 10,083.
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
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Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
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Shadow Minister (Justice)
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Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
HMCTS does not hold separate data on the number of wrongful dismissal claims.
The quarterly average length of proceedings for unfair dismissal claims can be found in the published statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2021.
These are only available until April 2021. Publication of Employment Tribunal timeliness information ceased from April 2021 when the jurisdiction moved to an interim database with limited management information. Employment Tribunals are now in the process of transitioning to a new case management system and work is in hand as part of the HMCTS data strategy to reintroduce the publication of timeliness information at the end of this calendar year.
Several measures have been taken to reduce the average waiting time for a first hearing in Employment Tribunals including the recruitment of additional judges. To address growing demand, the government invested £2.85 million in December 2022 to allow up to 1,700 more cases to come before judges by the end of March 2023. We also created a virtual region of fee-paid judges to hear remote cases from any region.
Additionally, the Judicial Review and Courts Act transfers Employment Tribunal rule-making powers to the Tribunal Procedures Committee. This independent, judge-led committee will allow the Tribunal to respond more swiftly and flexibly to the challenges it faces through operational changes and rulemaking. This measure will also allow the judiciary to manage their workloads more flexibly, maximising the capacity of the Employment Tribunal
HMCTS does not hold separate data on the number of wrongful dismissal claims.
The quarterly average length of proceedings for unfair dismissal claims can be found in the published statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2021.
These are only available until April 2021. Publication of Employment Tribunal timeliness information ceased from April 2021 when the jurisdiction moved to an interim database with limited management information. Employment Tribunals are now in the process of transitioning to a new case management system and work is in hand as part of the HMCTS data strategy to reintroduce the publication of timeliness information at the end of this calendar year.
Several measures have been taken to reduce the average waiting time for a first hearing in Employment Tribunals including the recruitment of additional judges. To address growing demand, the government invested £2.85 million in December 2022 to allow up to 1,700 more cases to come before judges by the end of March 2023. We also created a virtual region of fee-paid judges to hear remote cases from any region.
Additionally, the Judicial Review and Courts Act transfers Employment Tribunal rule-making powers to the Tribunal Procedures Committee. This independent, judge-led committee will allow the Tribunal to respond more swiftly and flexibly to the challenges it faces through operational changes and rulemaking. This measure will also allow the judiciary to manage their workloads more flexibly, maximising the capacity of the Employment Tribunal
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
We continue to work closely with partners across the criminal justice system to inform them of the availability and capability of electronic monitoring conditions for court bail as an alternative to remand in custody.
In August 2023, we published a new Electronic Monitoring Court Bail Protocol to support effective and efficient practice and to improve the confidence of criminal justice system stakeholders in using electronic monitoring. In March 2024, we distributed posters to be displayed in all magistrates’ and Crown Courts in England and Wales highlighting how electronically monitored conditions and technologies can be used flexibly in response to specific risks. In addition, we are investing £53 million over four years from April 2024 to expand the Bail Information Service to all courts and prisons to support timely decisions on remand including the use of electronic monitoring where appropriate.
Data relating to the progress made on reducing the number of prisoners on remand through the use of electronic tags is not centrally held by the Ministry of Justice.
Shadow Minister (Justice)
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Shadow Minister (Justice)
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Shadow Minister (Justice)
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Shadow Minister (Justice)